Friday, October 07, 2005
Platitudes Are Nice -- But The Devil Is In The Details
In all this discussion some scripture is cited. Lets look at them.
Ps 24:1 - The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.
Gen 2:15 - The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Rev 11:18 - "And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time {came} for the dead to be judged, and {the time} to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
Far be it from me to argue with Scripture, but perhaps a couple of questions are in order.
- At what point does "working it" become not taking care of it? This passage would indicate they are part of a package.
- At precisely what point are we "destroying" the earth? -- Where is the line between destruction and changing? -- What changes are "working it" and what are "destroying it?"
You see, in those questions lies the problem with a Christian environmental movement. What issues, precisely, will it address? Movements need to do things -- what will this movement do? How can we be assured that those actions are "working" and not "destroying?"
The history of environmentalism is chock full of actions aimed at conservation that have resulted in negative consequences. The killing of wolves in Yellowstone when it first became a park -- The DDT ban resulting in huge increases in mosquito born disease in the third world -- The introduction of kudzu in the American Southeast -- are just a few examples that come to mind. The sad fact of the matter that the state of our science is simply insufficient, at least in most of the common issues addressed by "environmentalism" these days, to say actually give a Christian environmental movement any place to get busy.
There is also something quite unChristian in assuming that our science is so sufficient. In some areas it places our understanding on a level with God's. Of course, the cry from environmentalists when the science is shown to be inconclusive is always, "But it might be true, and we dare not wait until the science is solid!" What a lack of faith is demonstrated by such an attitutde, paricularly in light of the fact that we have so many negative consequences from scientifically presumed positive actions.
God is in charge of the earth, we are not. When we presume to know enough to destroy the earth, or to save it, we are, in fact, usurping God's power, which is, I think, precisely against the Psalms passage cited above.
Are there real environmental concerns? Yes. Can Christians have a role in dealing with them? Sure. But what role? Most of the genuine concerns are already being dealt with rather well, so what is a "movement" to do? My advice, as an environmental professional, is if you are a Christian, and you are concerned, join me as an environmental professional, the water is warm and the pool is large. But please, don't go stirring up "issues," and charging up rhetorical hills on maybes, mights, and presumablies.
